STING (stung)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: stung   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sting mean? 

• STING (noun)
  The noun STING has 5 senses:

1. a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung

2. a mental pain or distress

3. a painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin

4. a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property

5. operation designed to catch a person committing a criminal act

  Familiarity information: STING used as a noun is common.

• STING (verb)
  The verb STING has 5 senses:

1. cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort

2. deliver a sting to

3. saddle with something disagreeable or disadvantageous

4. cause a stinging pain

5. cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging

  Familiarity information: STING used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

sting; stinging

Context example:

he felt the stinging of nettles

Hypernyms ("sting" is a kind of...):

hurting; pain (a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder)

Derivation:

sting (cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort)

sting (cause a stinging pain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A mental pain or distress

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

pang; sting

Context example:

a pang of conscience

Hypernyms ("sting" is a kind of...):

hurting; pain (a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder)

Derivation:

sting (cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

bite; insect bite; sting

Hypernyms ("sting" is a kind of...):

harm; hurt; injury; trauma (any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sting"):

bee sting (a sting inflicted by a bee)

flea bite (sting inflicted by a flea)

mosquito bite (a sting inflicted by a mosquito)

Derivation:

sting (deliver a sting to)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

bunco; bunco game; bunko; bunko game; con; con game; confidence game; confidence trick; flimflam; hustle; sting

Hypernyms ("sting" is a kind of...):

cheat; rig; swindle (the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sting"):

sting operation (a complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care (especially an operation implemented by undercover agents to apprehend criminals))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Operation designed to catch a person committing a criminal act

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

sting; sting operation

Context example:

the police conducted a sting operation

Hypernyms ("sting" is a kind of...):

operation (a planned activity involving many people performing various actions)

• STING (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sting    ... he / she / it stings   
Past simple: stung   
Past participle: stung   
-ing form: stinging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

bite; burn; sting

Context example:

The sun burned his face

Hypernyms (to "sting" is one way to...):

ache; hurt; smart (be the source of pain)

Verb group:

burn (feel hot or painful)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sting"):

nettle; urticate (sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

sting (a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung)

stinger (a sharp stinging blow)

stinger (a sharp organ of offense or defense (as of a wasp or stingray or scorpion) often connected with a poison gland)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deliver a sting to

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bite; prick; sting

Context example:

A bee stung my arm yesterday

Hypernyms (to "sting" is one way to...):

pierce (make a hole into)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

sting (a painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin)

stinger (a sharp organ of offense or defense (as of a wasp or stingray or scorpion) often connected with a poison gland)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Saddle with something disagreeable or disadvantageous

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

stick; sting

Context example:

I was stung with a huge tax bill

Hypernyms (to "sting" is one way to...):

force; thrust (impose urgently, importunately, or inexorably)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody with something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause a stinging pain

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

prick; sting; twinge

Context example:

The needle pricked his skin

Hypernyms (to "sting" is one way to...):

ache; hurt; suffer (feel physical pain)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sting"):

prick; prickle (cause a prickling sensation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

sting (a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung)

stinger (a sharp stinging blow)

stinger (a sharp organ of offense or defense (as of a wasp or stingray or scorpion) often connected with a poison gland)

stinging (a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

His remark stung her

Hypernyms (to "sting" is one way to...):

bruise; hurt; injure; offend; spite; wound (hurt the feelings of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to sting Sue

Derivation:

sting (a mental pain or distress)

stinger (a remark capable of wounding mentally)

stinging (a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung)

 Context examples 

If he turned upon them, Mit-sah would throw the stinging lash of the whip into his face.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Uriah fell back, as if he had been struck or stung.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It had taken a piece out, and the sting of it reminded him of why he was there.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It will sting—it will taste bitter, sir.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was a sting in what he said.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

And yet, he added, his eyes softening, I know that it is but a boy's mirth, with no sting in it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Cherish her, then, whilst you may, for the day will come when every hasty deed or heedless word will come back with its sting to hive in your own heart.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Stooping over in quest of minnows, he jerked his head back as though he had been stung.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)